Yet another Zorro imitation, this adventure serial starred Robert Livingston as Don Loring, whose father and brother are killed by the evil General Burr (Fred Kohler). Seeking revenge, Loring dons a black cape and mask, calls himself "The Eagle," and goes about bringing Burr and his men to justice. As a daytime cover, the hero assumes the role of a kind, simple-minded church organist, a disguise that manages to fool Burr and his collaborator, the nasty Russian Count Raspinoff (Robert Warwick), for the serial's 12 installments. Guinn "Big Boy" Williams co-starred as Salvation, the leader of a motley gang of outlaws who assist Loring in his quest, while brunette Kay Hughes added much needed feminine touch to the proceedings. Produced for Republic Pictures by genre specialist Nat Levine, the serial was co-directed by former actor Mack V. Wright and Ray Taylor. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Review
Republic Pictures' premiere western serial proved the company's least expensive to produce but, ironically, also the longest with a total running time of 229 minutes. Starring Robert Livingston as a sort of cross between Zorro and Rudolph Valentino's 1925 The Eagle, the 12 chapter serial remains overlong and at times seems to have been slapped together with little thought to continuity or verisimilitude. Stunt performers such as Tracy Layne, Wally West, Wes Warner and the legendary Yakima Canutt do what they can with the material at hand but are soundly defeated by badly staged cliffhanger solutions, the so-called "takeouts." In chapter six, for example, Livingston is chased over a steep cliff by the villain's hired Cossacks but the "takeout" in chapter seven shows him calmly dismounting and stepping onto a hitherto unseen ledge. In contrast, some of the writing is fairly clever and at times even hilarious (intentionally or not), culminating in Livingston taking time out from saving California from Czarist Russian dominance to perform "Organ Impressions" by Republic house-composer Raoul Kraushaar. Quips bad-guy Yakima Canutt: "Nobody that plays an organ is any good." The overall hurriedness of The Vigilantes are Coming remains a liability, however, and the fascinating story of how Northern California almost became part of Imperial Russia (albeit several years before the actual setting of the serial) deserves a better treatment than this. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
